1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to telecommunications and, in particular, to call hold centers. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to managing experts within a call hold queue.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many companies provide telephone-based access to help staff, sales personnel, representatives, and automated menus via a call center. Where high telephone call traffic is typical in telephone access to a company's representatives, a PBX system receives the call and distributes the call to an automatic call distributor (ACD), thus incorporating a hold function in the call center. ACDs are often employed to provide an even and systematic distribution of incoming calls to multiple representatives. In particular, ACDs typically provide incoming calls with a direct connection to an available representative until all representatives are busy. Then, calling parties are placed in a call queue, and selectively connected to a representative once a representative comes available.
Call queues may cause frustration and ill will of consumers towards a company, particularly where excessively long waits, full queues and accidental disconnects are encountered. In order to alleviate frustrations, before a call is placed in a hold queue, a greeting message identifying the called party is played by the ACD, via an interactive voice response unit (IVRU), to the caller, indicating that the next available agent will service the call. During the holding period, music or advertising messages may be played to the caller to entertain or inform the caller of sales promotions for particular products or services. More enhanced ACD systems may offer additional services to callers, such as news, multiple selections of music, release to make additional phone calls, games while on hold, and other services that make on hold time more pleasant.
In addition, ACD systems may be enhanced by providing multiple queues according to the skills of the agents available to answer calls. Further, each agent may have multiple skills, such that a single agent may answer calls in multiple queues. However, while calls may be divided among multiple queues according to query, callers are still waiting in a queue for the next available representative to answer the call.
In another example, an ACD system may be enhanced by allowing a caller waiting in a call queue to monitor (but not participate in) other caller conversations with similar queries or listed to recorded calls involving similar queries. However, while allowing a caller to listen in to another call may provide help to that caller, the caller is limited to hearing a conversation directed by another caller. Further, the caller listening in to another conversation must still wait until a representative is available to have the caller's questions answered.
Another known method for reducing call holding times is providing the caller with a selection of pre-recorded messages that may address the caller's question, such that the caller need not wait for a representative to have a question answered. However, such a system is limited in that the recorded answer may not precisely match the customer's query, leaving the customer waiting for a representative.
Therefore, in view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a method, system, and program for placing a call on hold in a first queue in a call center, but allowing a caller to select to speak with an expert while waiting on the call to be answered by a representative of the call center. In particular, it would be advantageous to allow the caller to speak with one of multiple freelance experts, where the freelance experts are rated according to knowledge skills. In addition, in particular, it would be advantageous to provide an expert in an emergency situation to interact concurrently with multiple callers on hold, such that the callers are able to have questions answered by that expert on an emergency subject, rather than listening to a pre-recorded message, and still waiting to talk with a representative.